Monty Munford has worked in the media industry for the past 15 years and moved to India in 2008. He writes for several publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Times of India. He is @montymunford on Twitter and has a personal website at www.montysoutlook.com.

The end of Indian airmail – and why I never fly Air India

India Post has stopped its overnight domestic airmail services, after the troubled Air India withdrew its support due to a shortage of pilots. The news came nearly a century after the world’s first official airmail flight took place in India on 18 February 1911 from Allahabad to Naini, when a certain Henri Pequet (great surname) carried 6,500 letters a distance of nine miles.

The night airmail service from Nagpur's International Airport started in 2007 amid much ceremony, when a Boeing 737-200 arrived at Guwahati in Assam, in the north-eastern corner of India. The Department of Posts had ambitious plans for the airmail services and using Nagpur as its hub, four India Post freighters would take off and land every night at Nagpur after arriving from the major cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

This was a model based on the 1950s when old Dakota aircraft carried mail from all parts of the country to Nagpur, from where the mail was then sent out by road and rail… a system that allegedly saw all Indian domestic letters delivered within 24 hours.

Air India, however, has stymied these plans and pulled out because of "operational problems", although the company’s financial problems and the non-renewal of service contracts of 30 senior pilot commanders is a more likely reason.

Personally I'd rather burn down my house than send anything cross-country or overseas by India Post. Incoming parcels from abroad are regularly opened and rifled through and take weeks to arrive, and I’d rather fly on Aeroflot at its worst than Air India.

Last year there was a scuffle at 30,000 feet between two members of the cabin crew and the pilots which took place in the cockpit and galley of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-320, as the aircraft flew over Pakistan en route to Delhi from Sharjah.

The flight started as the flight lifted off from Sharjah and turned into a full punch-up (see video here) after the plane had taken off. At one stage the cockpit was unoccupied. An unmanned Air India flight over Pakistan is not the best of scenarios for any passenger.

One of the flight crew accused the pilot of harassment and a case was registered under Section 354 for outraging the modesty of a woman. An enquiry is ongoing and nobody seems to know the latest status of that particular investigation – in fact nobody at Air India seems to know what’s going on at all.

Earlier this week there was nearly another airborne fight when the pilot of an Air India flight to Dubai insisted cabin crew serve alcohol to its passengers, but the crew refused because there were only five of them, not the mandatory six. The pilot has now received threatening calls from the Union who plan to strike next week on a variety of issues.

Furthermore, the airline has asked the Government for immediate financial help of more than £700 million. If it wasn’t for the Government edict that all Muslim Haj visitors must travel to Saudi Arabia by Air India, then the company would have been bust long ago.

So, if your letter in outermost India takes a little longer to arrive because it’s now coming by road, or rail, at least you can be guaranteed it will actually arrive. As for potential Air India passengers, I would seriously consider my options.

NB After the time of writing, an Air India fight from Dubai to Mangalore crashed and killed 158 people.